ELECTROMAGNETIC HYPERSENSITIVITY AS A PROGRESSIVE DISEASE
Visitors to this site, maybe you my curious friend, can find it hard to realise the enormity of what we are attempting. Against the Goliaths of this era, massive global corporations in energy and communications we wave the thin flag of individuals suffering. Its not nice to have to do this though it happens to be real and true as is the science that must eventually be accomodated. Among the attempted dismissals of electrical hypersensitivity as a real illness beyond the ‘they are wacky, its all in the mind level’ are the slightly more subtle ‘well if they are affected its not serious, only like hay-fever, probably just chemical particles or pollen, the air-conditioning or something, I don’t see everybody falling down the minute I switch my computer on..ha ..ha.. blah..blah..’ Of course the list of potential disabling agents is endless, proving direct causal links difficult. Just look at tobacco and cancer. We have to believe there are honest and unblinkered scientists out there in the field or we are reduced to pessimistic and paranoid despair.
Drum roll..Da da da doom! and here we have such a one, toiling in the bowels of the USA government itself, we present :
M.M. Hughes. U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Technical Data Centre, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity as a Progressive Disease
Electromagnetic hypersensitivity is a new, progressive, disabling disease that has received little attention from the bioelectromagnetic community. It has many names: electro trauma, electro-hypersensitivity and hypersensitivity to electricity. Several million people all over the world who are working with computers complain of symptoms. Some acquired such severe disability that they became unable to work. The afflicted also suffer stress because of the uncertainty as to whether the medical profession will recognise their illness, disability boards award their claims, health insurance pay for their treatment and their employers provide an atmosphere in which they may continue to work.Findings are based on my investigation of scientific literature, the results of which are published in my books, Computer Health Hazards, v. 1 & v. 2, 1990 and 1993 and in Computers, Antennas, Cellular Telephones and Power Lines: Health Hazards, v. 3, 1996. In this research, I find that since 1980, Swedish scientists have documented skin symptoms as the most common result of computer sensitivity. These include sensations of burning, prickling, itching, stinging, redness, swellings and rashes, tightness and “dry skin”. Knave, B., Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 1994. Severe erythema, dermatitis with blisters, swollen eyes and lids, and mucosal injury in the cheeks and soft palate also occur. Hughes, M., The 2nd Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity Conference, Denmark, 1995. The high number of mast cells present may explain the clinical symptoms of itch, edema and erythema. Johansson, O., Experimental dermatology, 1994.
VDT dermatitis is suspected to be rosacea. Dr. Bjorn Lagenholm, the Chief of Dermatology at the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm, says ordinary rosacea seldom appears anywhere other than the face. He reports redness and dilated blood vessels on the face, neck, chest, back and even under the clothing of computer operators. He found, besides elastosis solaris, remarkable in very young computer operators, an absence of elasticity under the epidermis. He attributed these injuries to ultraviolet light and X-rays. Nordstrom, G., Sick from Computers, 1989.
VDT gastrointestinal symptoms include nausea, anorexia, diarrhoea and constipation. Additional symptoms include sand in the eyes, hair loss, pain and numbness, difficulty concentrating, nosebleeds and sudden loss of consciousness, often leading to auto accidents and broken limbs. Liboff, A.R., Microwave News, 1995.
Others also reported VDT-evoked symptoms including such as nervous system symptoms: headaches, dizziness, fatigue and faintness, tingling and prickling sensations in the extremities, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, profuse sweating, depression, memory difficulties, sleep disturbances, difficulty concentrating, emotional instability, fine tremor of the hands and unconsciousness. Rea, W., Journal of Bioelectricity, 1991. Knave refers to Rea’s double blind laboratory provocation study which documented that hypersensitive persons are able to detect and identify weak fields. Frequencies used range from 0.1 Hz to 5MHz. Knave, B., The 2nd Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity Conference, Denmark, 1995. Afflicted individuals cannot watch TV, work on computers or listen to radio. They react to stereos, fluorescent lights, telephones, electric heaters, high voltage power lines, electric security systems and electric trains. Becker, R., Cross Currents, 1990.
There have been two Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity Conferences held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1994 and 1995. Bengt Knave and Jurki Katajainen organized the second conference. The international scientists at those conferences concluded that electromagnetic hypersensitivity is a progressive disease and many afflicted are permanently disabled. The worldwide introduction of computers and other electronic equipment into our environment make it urgent that this catastrophic disorder be given widespread attention by the scientific community.
Well beat that for a thorough run through scientific and academic work up to quite a few years ago now. There is more since and the UK cannot indefinitely remain an ignorant island in a world where EHS recognition proceeds apace. Even the foot-dragging of the NRPB, our supposed protector, cannot prevail forever against the evidence.